“Naomi.”
She jumped a mile at the sound of Nick’s voice.
“He wants to talk to you.”
Nick held the phone out to her, and she physically shrunk away from it. “No.”
“No? I already told you …”
“No,” she repeated again. “I’m not talking to Sam.” Not ever again. She couldn’t stand looking into his face and seeing the pain there. Pain she was responsible for causing.
“Naomi, he just wants …”
“Nick, I said no. I'm not changing my mind. Tell him I’m not talking to him. Tell him that I’ll be out of his house first thing in the morning, and he’ll never have to see me again.” With that she bounced to her feet and ran from the room, ignoring whatever Nick was yelling after her.
Running into one of Sam’s spare bedrooms, she locked the door behind her and fell on the bed. She wanted to sleep, to cry, to do something, anything, that would alleviate the guilt inside her.
* * * * *
11:14 P.M.
“What is going on?” Sam demanded as he stormed into his house. “Where’s Naomi?”
Nick was sitting at his kitchen table. “She’s upstairs in one of your spare bedrooms. I tried talking to her, but she won't come out.”
“Why wouldn’t she talk to me on the phone? Did something happen?” Fear speared him. As much as he had wanted, needed even, to be with his sister, if he had of known something was going to happen to Naomi while he was gone, he would have stayed with her.
“No, nothing happened,” Nick assured him. “She’s convinced herself that you blame her. She wants to leave here, she tried but I stopped her.”
Sighing, he raked his hands through his hair. It was his fault that Naomi thought that because he had flown out of here with no regard to the fact that she was suffering too. Naomi had lost more than anyone, he should have been more sensitive to her feelings. “I don’t blame her.”
“Iknow that. I tried to tell her, but she didn’t believe me. She's convinced that you think she’s responsible, she wants me to take her to a hotel in the morning.”
Sam scrubbed his hands down his face, it had been alongcouple of days, what he needed was sleep. Real sleep. Proper sleep. Naomi did too, and there was only one way they were going to get it. “Thanks for coming and staying with her, Nick, but you can go on home now that I’m back.”
“Are you sure?” Nick looked surprised. “I thought you might want to spend a couple of days with your family. I don’t mind staying with her.”
“No, I need to be here. Maria is staying at our parents’ house tonight. She took some sleeping pills, when I left she was asleep, there’s nothing I can do for her right now.” Sam hadn’t liked leaving his sister in the care of their parents, but he didn’t really have a choice. He couldn’t bring her back here, it wasn't safe, and he couldn’t stay with her because he knew that Naomi needed him. He had been able to feel that need the entire time he was away from her.
“All right then, I guess I’ll go pick up Aggie and we can go home. Call if you need me.” Nick paused at the door. “Oh, and, Sam, good luck with Naomi, I think you're going to need it.”
As he locked up, set the alarms, checked and re-checked every window and both doors, he decided Nick was right. He’d messed up with Naomi. He should have assured her that she wasn't responsible for her stalker’s actions before he left.
Upstairs, he quickly ascertained which of his three spare bedrooms Naomi had hidden herself away in, the only one with the door closed. Even if Nick hadn’t told him she had locked herself in he would have guessed it anyway. It was what she did. When she got overwhelmed she closed herself off.
Sam knew for a fact that she wasn't going to let him in. She was stubborn, she could ignore him hammering away at the door all night. So bypassing trying to talk his way in, he made quick work of picking the lock and opened the door himself.
Naomi was lying on the bed, on her stomach, on top of the covers, still in the same clothes she had been wearing when he’d left earlier this afternoon. She didn’t indicate that she had heard him enter the room, but he sensed she wasn't asleep.
For a long time he just stood staring at her.
What he felt for her was strong. Almost too strong. He had learned to squash his emotions such a long time ago that now it was difficult to feel anything so powerful. With Naomi, every time he tried to push those emotions down, they bubbled straight back up twice as strong as before. That was what she did to him.
“Go.”
It took him a moment to realize she had actually spoken.
“Please. Go.”